Doctor accused of leak to drug maker

The prominent diabetes expert Dr. Steven M. Haffner of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio leaked an unpublished and confidential medical journal article to GlaxoSmithKline last year, tipping the company to the imminent publication of safety questions involving the company's diabetes drug Avandia. Haffner faxed the article to the drug maker after agreeing to read it as part of the peer-review process for The New England Journal of Medicine, according to a statement by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Besides violating The New England Journal's rules, disclosing a pending article would also be considered a breach of professional ethics.